Kicking off Jamuary 2024, I think this song is a spiritual successor to the final one from 2023, “Reasons To Smile.” It’s a song about having a positive outlook, and not being so self-critical, and how it takes time to fundamentally change your world view. I have a lot of reasons to be excited and hopeful for the new year, and while I don’t want to claim that this song is a “mission statement” for the project as a whole, I think it’s at least fair to say that I want it to set the tone for what’s to come.
Musically, this is in 6/8 time. The chords are mostly garden-variety, with everything diatonic except for flat-VII and flat-III appearing in the bridge. I suppose you could make the argument that the bridge temporarily modulates to G or C (I hear it more as G, but the “F” kind of fools you into thinking it might be C). The rest of the song makes use of purely diatonic material (including a chord rooted on every scale degree but vii°), with the “fanciest” voicing being the Em7sus4 and A7sus4 chords used at the end and in the middle of the verses, respectively. Otherwise, nothing really fancy or notable here.
I recorded this one in my studio, with 6-string and 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Kala U-Bass, and the instrumental part is played on a melodica. The drums are from Kontakt’s “60 Drums” package. There is a bit of noodling on the 12-strings during the verses (they are absent in the first half of the verses, play a low-key lead line on the second half, then strummed fully in the chorus) that I kept in because I like the movement it lends to the section.
Lyrics
I’m taking it easy on myself
I’m cutting my own brain some slack
I’m banishing my harshest critic
And I promise I won’t let him back
It’s so easy to write off your credit
It’s so easy to lean on the lie
Those times you said “forget it”
Or “Why would I even try?”
Now I’m done being dismissive
Done downplaying success
From this moment I’ll be permissive
And open my heart to yes
So I’m getting rid of excuses
I’m clearing the scales from my eyes
‘Cause all my slights and abuses
Were purely internalized
I’m shaking off the stiffness
It won’t come easy to me
I’m leaning my best on forgiveness
And taking some time to breathe
I’m firing up the synapses now
They’ve laid dormant so long
I’ll push and push and then push some more
Till they finally grow up strong